The transportation of goods in containers to a destination is often followed by the return of the containers, empty of goods, to their source.
The empty containers are conventionally returned in their original shape and take up the same carrying area or volume on the transportation vehicle as they had when they were loaded with goods.
It would be advantageous if the containers, once emptied, where reduced in overall size so that the transportation vehicle were able to carry a greater number of containers or allocate carrying space to goods for the return journey.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome substantially ameliorate the shortcomings of the prior art.